House of Lion, House of Witch, & House of Wardrobe
Summary: Nina, Eddie, Fabian, Jerome, Amber, Mick, Mara, Alfie, Patricia, and Joy are ten ordinary children living in plain old, boring Liverpool. Until the Germans begin dropping bombs over England and they're evacuated to the countryside to live at Anubis House with Professor Diggory Kirke until it's safe to return home. But when Nina Martin happens to find an old wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek, nothing will ever be the same again.
Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis or the Chronicles of Narnia. Also, I'm not British, and I don't live in the 1940s, so if some of the language and terms used aren't historically accurate, sorry!
A/N: I know, I should really be working on Coraline 2 instead of writing another story. But I just HAD to write this.
I got the idea for this story about three or four months ago, the day right after the HOA season 2 finale. I'd just rewatched the finale that morning, and then I was flipping through the channels when I saw that ABC family was showing the first two Narnia movies with deleted scenes (which by the way, is like Christmas come early for me.) So I started watching The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. And I'm not really sure how, but I started thinking about House of Anubis while I was watching it, and then I thought "Hey...what would happen if HOA and Narnia were put together?" It sounded weird at first but then I was like "OMG, that could work." So then I kept on thinking about it and got so many ideas on how it would work and I was like OH MY GOSH I'VE GOT TO WRITE THIS. So I completely forgot about the movie, grabbed my computer, and started writing.
Basically, Narnia and House of Anubis are two of some of my favorite things. I know I haven't written a Narnia fanfic in like 3 years, but I used to be obsessed with Narnia, the books and the movies. No, really. You don't understand, I loved them with my whole entire heart, and I still do - I'm just not crazily obsessed anymore. But Narnia is like my childhood, I don't think my love for it can even be explained. Then, on the other hand, House of Anubis is my second favorite TV show of all time (the only thing that beats it is Doctor Who.) I don't even care that the acting isn't good and the plots are a little out there and the sets aren't the best and it's kinda cheesy sometimes. I love it. I love all the characters, the mystery is great, I love the plots, and I love how every episode leaves you super excited for the next one.
Anyways, I've been working on this story for a really long time, and I've got to say I actually really like it. And I hope you like it as much as I do (and that someone actually reads it...)
IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: This story is AU. Nina, Fabian, Amber, Patricia, Eddie, Alfie, Jerome, Mara, Joy, and Mick live in England. The year is 1941. They've never stayed in Anubis House boarding school, and there is no Egyptian mystery. No Senkhara, no Sarah Frobisher-Smythe, etc. Also, Nina and Eddie are twins, Fabian and Jerome are cousins, and Mick and Amber are siblings. Basically, the HOA characters take the place of the Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) in this story. The Pevensies don't exist in this story. Sad, but yeah.
Anyways, if you've read this entirely long A/N, then congratulations! Have a free cookie. Now you can read the story and please review and tell me what you thought! :)
CHAPTER ONE:
The Neighborhood
"Is that everything?"
"That's about the fifteenth time you've said that, Eddie," I sighed, running a hand through my long brown hair.
He ignored me, staring at our grandmother expectantly. "Well, is it?"
Gran chuckled. "Yes, it is. Go, run off and do whatever it is that fifteen-year-old boys do."
"Yes!" Eddie cheered, grabbing a cookie from the brown paper bag that my Gran had packed for the long ride. Surprisingly, there were still some left. Quickly, he bounded outside and across our new front lawn, off to do who knows what.
Gran chuckled again. "Boys," she said, rolling her eyes. I smiled back. Suddenly she stopped, looking up to me and pushing a strand of hair behind my head. "Are you alright, Nina? With the move and everything?"
I nodded. "Yeah, fine."
Gran stared at me for a few minutes and I groaned inwardly. I was a terrible liar, and to make matters even worse, my Gran could read me like an open book. She always knew when something was wrong. But fortunately, she let the matter drop. "Alright. Do you want some lemonade? I was just about to make some."
I shook my head. "No thanks. I was just going to grab a glass of water and sit on the back porch for a bit."
"Okay. Be careful," Gran warned.
"I will," I said, fixing myself a glass of water and opening the screen door to the back porch. I sighed and sat down, placing my cup right next to me, stretching out my feet and watching my surroundings. Judging by the way that the sun was hanging squarely in the middle of the sky, it was probably about noon.
I sighed and glanced over my shoulder and smiled a little bit. Leave it to my grandmother to make herself busy only a few hours after we'd just moved in. In all the time I'd known her, Gran had never been known to keep still. It was one of the many things I loved about her.
I sighed again, turning back to face my brand new backyard. Even though I loved her, I was still a little angry with her. After all, it was her fault that we moved. San Francisco, California, had been my home. It was where most of my friends were and where I went to school, and I'd left all of that behind.
California hadn't always been my home, though. I was born in Tucson, Arizona, where I lived with both of my parents and my twin brother, Eddie. We lived happy, normal lives for five years, until quite unexpectedly, both my parents died in a car accident. Both of them were an only child, so we had no aunts or uncles to take us in. Our only relative was our Gran on our mother's side, who lived in San Francisco.
So, we'd been shipped off there, which was a huge adjustment. After all, Eddie and I had never met our Gran before, not to mention we were very young and had never even been out of Arizona. But we managed. We adjusted. We grew to love our Gran, and she loved us. We weren't normal, but we were happy again. California became familiar, and soon, it became our home.
Until ten years later, or to be more precise, two months ago, when Gran announced that she wanted to move.
It blew Eddie and me away, definitely, although I wasn't sure why. Gran had been living in San Francisco for about twenty-five years, which to her, was a lifetime. She'd never been known to stay in one place for very long. "I need a change of scenery," she'd told us.
Naturally, we expected to move to another city in California or maybe even a nearby state.
What we didn't expect was moving halfway across the world to Liverpool, England.
Apparently, she'd worked it all out. She had a friend living in Liverpool that she'd been keeping up with through letters in the recent years. Gran told her friend about how dull her job as a secretary in California was, and how desperate she was of a change and that she was growing tired of San Francisco. Her friend wrote back, suggesting that she start over, and that a job as a teacher for children was open in the school she was working at, which was in Liverpool.
After much thinking about it, Gran told her friend that she wanted to apply. "It's always been a dream of mine to teach," she had explained to Eddie and me. "This is the perfect opportunity!" I just wasn't sure why we had to move to practically the other side of the world for her to live her dream as a teacher.
I mean, it'd always been a dream of mine to visit England. I loved the flag, the accents, the Big Ben...everything about it. But living there? That was a whole other story.
Even so, one month later our whole house was packed up, and we'd taken a flight to England only five days ago. Now, we were here, in our brand new home, where I knew no one other than my grandmother and my annoying twin brother.
Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about it.
I mean, I'd been really looking forward to the summer, before I'd found out about the move. I'd been looking forward to the pool with my friends, going down to the shops, buying ice cream at the local ice cream parlor, and spending the day in the backyard jumping rope beneath the hot summer sun.
But what was I supposed to do now that summer had arrived and I was in a completely different country where I knew no one? School hadn't started yet, so I had no friends. I suppose there might be some teenagers living in the neighborhood, I thought to myself.
"Hullo."
Speak of the devil. I jumped up, whirling to face a boy's head hovering above the fence that separated our house from the house next to us. My eyes widened and I jumped backwards in surprise, nearly knocking my forgotten cup of water over. The boy blushed. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Er, it's alright..." I said uncertainly, slowly approaching the boy and observing him.
If I squinted, I could make out the fuzzy glow coming off of him - a mixture of colors, but gray and baby blue stood out the most. I wasn't alarmed, though. I know it sounds weird, but most people I've met have had a fuzzy glow with a mixture of colors coming off of them. I can only see them if I try to, though. And they're not on everyone I meet, but they're on most of them.
I've actually been able to see these "glows" for most of my life, and I'm pretty sure most normal people can't see them. Which, I guess, is a little weird. I asked Gran about it one time when I was seven, but she just waved it off and told me I just had a wild imagination. And who knows? Maybe it is all in my head. It's not dangerous and it doesn't bother me, so I usually don't even worry about it.
Anyways, when I was twelve, I figured out that each color coming off of someone meant a specific personality trait or a feeling they were having at the moment. For instance, the gray color coming off the boy across the fence usually meant shyness or quietness. The baby blue color usually meant kindness. I wasn't always right about this - I'd been wrong quite a few times, actually.
I took my eyes away from the hue surround the boy and looked at the rest of him. He looked like he was around my age, and he was cute, as well. And something about him gave me the impression that he was clever. It was only assumption, but it was just something about him...maybe it was his warm, chocolate brown eyes...
Finally I realized that we'd been standing there in silence for a while, me gawking openly at him. I felt my face heat up. "Hi," I finally blurted out.
Really, Nina? All you could get out was a lame 'hi'?
"Hi," the boy waved shyly, blushing slightly.
I tucked a strand of sandy blonde hair behind my ear. "Uh, you already said that," I pointed out.
"Right. I knew that." Wow, I really, really love British accents. "Did you just move in?" He asked, blushing and changing the subject.
"Yeah, we actually got here about two hours ago," I replied. Then I raised my eyebrows. "Uh...just wondering, but how exactly did you get up there?"
The boy looked down at his feet and laughed. "Oh, there's a giant crate perched beneath the fence. I use it all the time-" Suddenly he stopped. "I mean, I just figured out it was here..." I giggled, and he smiled at me. "I live here, by the way," he added, gesturing to the house.
"Yeah, I figured." I smirked at him.
"Oh, yeah, right," the boy blushed again. Yep, I was right. Shy and sweet. A little awkward, though...but hey, it's kind of cute. "Hey, p-pardon my asking, but are you American?"
"Yeah, I am," I smiled. "My grandmother, my brother, and I just moved here from California."
"Oh, well, welcome to Liverpool," The boy grinned cheekily. "I'm not sure if it'll be nearly as exciting as California, but I hope you enjoy it here, besides."
"Well, I don't know," I replied, giggling. "We don't have floating head neighbors in California."
The boy pretended to be surprised. "Really? How odd."
I laughed. "I'm Nina, by the way." I stuck out my hand, and then took it back. "Actually, that's probably not a very good idea."
The boy looked down at his precarious position and laughed. "Yeah, probably not. I'm Fabian Rutter."
"Well I'm pleased to meet you, Fabian Rutter," I said in a fake British accent. Then I cringed. "How'd I do?"
"Eh..." Fabian tilted his hand back and forth, making a so-so motion, the other hand still tightly gripping the fence. "Needs a bit of work."
We both laughed.
"Fabian!" a voice called from inside of Fabian's house. "Lunch time!"
Fabian sighed. "Coming, Mum!" He turned back to me. "Sorry," he smiled apologetically. "I guess I've got to go, then. It was nice meeting you, though, Nina."
"Nice meeting you, too," I smiled, and then bit my lip. "Although, I suppose I already said that, only in a bad impression of a British accent..."
Fabian laughed. "See you later, Nina!" He waved as he hopped down, his floating head disappearing from view. A few moments later I heard the door shut. Smiling to myself, I practically skipped inside the house.
"You're in a good mood," Eddie observed, lounging on our new couch and munching on food, as usual. I briefly wondered when he'd come inside from doing his "boy stuff", until I realized that I didn't really care.
I shrugged. "Maybe," I replied, trying to hide my grin.
"Does it have anything to do with that boy that you were talking to across the fence?" He asked, lifting his eyebrows.
"Were you spying on me?" I demanded.
Eddie smirked. "Maybe," he mimicked in a high, girly voice. I glared at Eddie, hitting him on the shoulder. "Oh no, I'm wounded!" Eddie cried, holding a hand over his shoulder, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh, shut up," I rolled my eyes. He just snickered and jumped off the couch, retreating upstairs. "I don't sound like that, by the way!"
"Whatever!" Eddie mimicked me again.
x.X.x
"Hey, did you know that a family moved into the house next to mine today?" Fabian asked suddenly.
He and his friends were lying around Amber and Mick Campbell's parlour. It was around two o'clock in the afternoon, and the seven friends were hot and bored, and had nothing to do or talk about it. That was, until that exact moment. At Fabian's news, everyone sat up, suddenly interested. "Really? With children our age?" Mara Jaffray asked inquisitively.
"Yeah. Well, there's a girl our age, at least," Fabian explained. "I talked to her over the fence. She looked nice."
"Oh, really?" Mick asked, smirking at Fabian.
"No, I meant, she seems nice," said Fabian, blushing.
"Course you did," said Mick, snickering.
"Wait, a girl our age?" Amber asked, completely ignoring her older brother. Fabian nodded. "Really? That's wonderful! Ooh, what if we all end up being really great friends, and she can come over here and spend time with us all the time, and - oooh!" Amber suddenly shouted, causing Mick to fall backwards in surprise. She went on, seemingly not noticing. "Does she like shopping? Because if she did then that would be absolutely perfect!"
"Why?" Mick asked, sitting up again, still a little taken aback.
Amber rolled her eyes. "Because, then I would have someone to go shopping with!" She said, as if everyone should know this.
"Why couldn't you just go by yourself?" Mick grumbled.
"Because! Everyone knows that it's not nearly as fun to buy clothes by yourself! And anyways, I could always use a second opinion," Amber said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Mick just rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, I don't know how girls can get so excited about shopping," muttered Patricia Williamson, saying the word shopping like some people would say the word dirt. Mick silently agreed, but didn't say anything so he wouldn't get the same glare that Amber had sent to Patricia.
"Amber, I've got no idea if she likes shopping," replied Fabian. "It wasn't exactly high on my priority list when I was talking to her. I think she said she had a brother, though."
Amber and Joy perked up again, but before they could bombard him with questions about the new boy, Alfie cut in. "What's the girl's name? Is she pretty?" He quickly looked over at Amber and then hastily added. "Not that I'm interested or anything!" Amber ignored it, but everyone else hid smirks. They all knew that Alfie was crazy about Amber, although she was completely clueless.
"Her name is Nina," Fabian said, turning slightly red.
"Nina? What kind of name is that?" Patricia asked out loud. Mara elbowed her in the rib and she cleared her throat. "Sorry." Although she probably wasn't.
"Fabian, you haven't answered Alfie's question, yet," said Mick, who enjoyed teasing his awkward friend.
"Yeah, I guess she's pretty..." Fabian muttered.
"What's that? I couldn't hear you, mate," Mick cupped a hand around his ear.
"Oh, come off it, Mick," said Mara, always the keeper of peace, although she was giggling. Then again, she was always giggling whenever Mick did something. "Don't tease him about it."
"I have a fabulous idea," Amber declared, standing up. "I'm going to ask Mum to throw a dinner tomorrow night to welcome the new family into the neighborhood!"
"That's a great idea, Amber," Mara complimented.
"I know, I know," Amber said immodestly, smiling brightly. "I'm a bit of a genius." Happily, she skipped up the steps. "Mum! I need to talk to you!"
Mick sighed and rolled his eyes, slumping into the sofa. "Sometimes I don't know how I can stand her."
"Fabes, isn't your cousin in town?" Joy asked, rolling onto her stomach and calling Fabian by the little pet name she had for him.
Fabian groaned loudly. "Yes."
"Where is he, anyway?" Alfie asked curiously.
"Probably at my house, locked up in the guest bedroom," Fabian sighed. "I swear, he hardly ever comes out of there when he visits."
"Rude," Joy remarked.
"You don't even know the half of it," Fabian sighed again.
Amber bounded back down the steps, grinning. "Mum said yes! And all of you are invited as well! Even your cousin, Fabian!"
"Ahh, yay," Fabian said with mock enthusiasm.
Amber clapped her hands excitedly. "This is going to be so much fun!"
x.X.x
Nina was running. She felt slightly panicked, although she wasn't sure why. As she ran, she only saw flashes of things - things like paintings, windows, even a suit of armor. None of it made much sense.
Then she came to the realization that she had stopped running and now she was standing in a room that was mostly empty except for something at the back. Before she could make out what it was, the scene had changed again.
Once again, all she saw were scenes flashing before her eyes. The only thing that stood out was that everything she saw was completely white.
Nina's eyes opened and she sat up in her bed with a start. At first she was frightened when she looked around at the unfamiliar room that she was sleeping in, until she remembered that this was her new home. She sighed in relief, laying back down.
She thought back to the dream again - the running, the empty room, the flashes of white. It didn't make any sense, but she felt like she'd dreamt the same thing before. Or, not the exactly the same thing. But something really similar. It was one of those random senses of deja vu that you get but you can't ever remember what brought it on.
Nina sighed, shaking her head. It was just a dream, after all. There wasn't any point in thinking about it any longer. She settled back into her new bed and closed her eyes. In a few minutes, she was asleep again.
A/N: So, just to wrap up -
Nina and Eddie are twins. They were born in America, but then their parents died so they moved to California to live with their Gran, who became their legal guardian. Then, Gran decided to move to England because she was bored of California and she needed a change of scenery and she's weird. Now they've just moved to Liverpool, and they now live in a little neighborhood with Patricia, Amber, Fabian, Mick, Joy, Alfie, and Mara, who have lived in the neighborhood most, if not all, of their life.
Jerome is Fabian's cousin, and right now he's visiting him. Also, Amber and Mick are brother and sister, with a year's difference between both of them - Mick is the oldest.
I think that should probably clear everything up, but if not, ask in a review!
Hope you enjoyed it, and please review!